Forgive me if I get a little historical…
I was referred to a post by Speaker7 (a very funny writer) wherein there was a discussion of the War of 1812. Which gets my interest, historian training that I had, especially as I spent a few days at Annapolis and Fort McHenry, where the war does have a certain resonance after all…
But what got me in the place I’m at this moment after was a snap I took on the grounds, in front of the Naval Academy Chapel :
The plaque discusses the anchors at the front of the Chapel and notes that they originally belonged to the USS New York, BB-34. She was the leader of a new class of warship, one that promoted raw power and impenetrable defenses, and was going to change the face of naval war forever; had she been laid faster, her name would have described not just a new class of ship for the US Navy, but a whole new type of ship the world over.
An honor that went instead to the HMS Dreadnought, which made all ships that came after her mere reflections, to the point where any such vessel would be lumped under the name of “Dreadnought” in common usage. As far as New York was concerned, we could build these kinds of ships, and boy did we build some good ones, but we couldn’t name them all after us, sorry. Sure, we got to build the USS Monitor, the USS Missouri and the USS Constellation, but compared to naming rights it just seems, kinda hollow, y’know?
I mean, imagine what kind of a fun universe it might be if the phrase, “As tough as a New Yorker” had a much deeper meaning…
*sigh*
James Ryan 